Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread I can't recommend this book enough: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-9053471-0661730?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 This also had a big impact on me: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_5/102-9053471-0661730?v=glance&s=books
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow Apologies if it was mentioned above. Not only is it a very good read, but since Hamilton was a central figure in both the Constitutional Convention and the process during Washington's presidency of implementing it, the book offers much information about the early political and economic history of the US. Certainly, I am far more skeptical even than I was about the doctrine of original intent. The Constitution was the product of conflict and compromise, and that conflict and compromise was really only getting started when the Convention ended.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Thomas Sowell is a very good writer. I've recently picked up some of his essays on the Capitalism Magazine website. Really hits home regarding his writings on education and the economy. You may want to read this one too, not Sowell, but a good outline on why Socialism in practice doesn't work. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/102-1322168-5417703?v=glance&s=books Review "Just a few generations ago, socialism was regarded as the wave of the future by millions of "enlightened" thinkers across the world; the promise of socialism motivated hard-line Marxists, Western-educated men of the Third World who fought for political independence, and Americans and Europeans repelled by the inequalities of capitalism. Now, of course, socialism is widely discredited; even former Communists in Eastern Europe proclaim allegiance to a market economy. This engrossing history of various socialist movements is told through portraits of the leaders who provided the intellectual and political support for those movements. With eloquence, skepticism, and even sympathy, Muravchik examines the careers of figures as varied as Friedrich Engels, Clement Atlee, and Julius Nyerere. Although each had a somewhat different interpretation of socialism, they all shared the fatal assumption that they could use the coercive power of the state to "improve" human nature. This is an important work and an object lesson showing great harm is frequently done by those with the purest motives." Jay Freeman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread "The World Is Flat-A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century" by Thomas L. Friedman http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374292884/103-3646796-5319064?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance "The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization" by Thomas L. Friedman http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03...4?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance By the way, I do not recommend any books by Ann Coulter...I find her views rather silly and not actually insightful or intelligent for that matter.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Just glanced through this entire last and as far as I could tell (and I may have just missed it) no one posted Karl Marx Capital Volume 1. I don't think any book had a larger impact on the political world in the 20th century (though once again I may be wrong.) Really is a must read for those that haven't read it.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Required reading: http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=7591
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right"---Al Franken. Basically exposing the likes of Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly for the hacks they really are in a very satirical way. A very enjoying read.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread I don't recommend anything Tom Friedman has written. I find him to be a two-bit, mediocre intellectual with the ability to overanylize simplicity and make it overly complex. Paul
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. Haven in a Heartless World by Christpoher Lasch Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul And someone recommended The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood. Absolutely a must read. Religion and the Racist Right by Michael Barkun The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America by Richard J. Ellis Just a sample. Ah, yes, America in 1857 by Kenneth Stampp Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson Could go on and on.... Paul
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Everyone should read 1776 by David Macullough. With all of the America hating in the world and global media as well as dubious actions of our political parties, I found the book to be an inspirational read.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread “It is the task of the people of the whole world to put an end to the aggression and oppression perpetrated by imperialism, and chiefly by U.S. imperialism,” wrote Mao. What a genius Mao was!
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread There are some great books on that list, but the list itself is BS considering it names books that are supposed to be "harmful".
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord is the must read of the last two centuries. all modern events can be viewed through the truth of that book.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread This was the textbook in my Civil War history class at my university. I have a degree in history education. We also read Eric Foner's book about Reconstruction. Both are very good. Concerning politically slanted books, I read stuff from both sides. I never want anyone to tell me how to think and what I can or CANNOT read.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zaks Extreme Measures: Life in the Concentration Camps by Tvetan Todorov
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread And if you order #3 on that list from a library, expect a visit from the feds. I guess the Feds just wanted to give him a little extra material for the fascism and totalitarianism aspects of his paper.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread AHHHH, yep...Land of the Free, yeah right! I'm surprised with all the controversial books that I have bought and checked that I have been paid a visit.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread Absurdistan Got it for Christmas. Kind of apolitical I suppose, but a really interesting book by a guy who's spent the last decade covering the major conflicts in Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq in addition to talking about what its like to be a journalist under these conditions and also working as a foreign correspondent in China and Russia.
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread HA HA HA HA HA ! I love it Here have a cloth to wipe off the egg before it dries
Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread The egg's on MY face? Because I linked to a news report where the reporter obviously didn't do enough checking? Yeah, the minute you wipe the egg off your face for believing that Iraq was a threat and possessed dangerous weapons of mass destruction. At least I came back on to this thread to post the correction when I found out the truth. Too bad Republicans and their mouthpeaces, like Fox news, never do the same. Of course, they usually know they're stating something false at the get-go, so it's to be expected that they would never bother posting a correction.